Network Automation has been linked to enabling and enabled by Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), and management solutions. In the case of SDN, one or more controllers and/or orchestration systems attempts to program network configuration and routing directly into network devices based on policy or information from a northbound interface. NFV focuses on placing virtualized network functions on physical network, compute, and storage resources to create more appropriate service chains for the aggregate set of services currently active on the network with the appropriate connectivity through the network. Network management focuses on the collection of data from the network in a database of record from an operational perspective which can be used for planning, but is not designed to create a network replica, not able to emulate a network for functions like A/B testing, nor is it typically designed to be resident in fully distributed edge or cloud compute infrastructure.
Digital twinning is used in the industrial sector to model processes for the purposes of asset optimization and emulation but has not been extended to communications networking including logical and physical network constructs and functions. There are no current solutions that can provide a network representation that replicates a network and its environment in near real-time including virtual, logical, physical devices, and resources with the ability to emulate the network, its environment, and processes for applications such as AB testing, optimization, simulation, planning, and the like.